# Commit Triage

> Classify uncommitted changes into commit-ready, failure-archive, and ambiguous buckets, then produce clean grouped commits with no co-author attribution. Use when the user asks to commit, tidy up `git status`, prepare a PR, archive failed experiments to a `failure/` folder, separate research artifacts from code before a commit, or clean up a noisy working tree at the end of a session.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-axect-skills-commit-triage`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [Axect](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/axect)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [AI & ML](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/ai-and-ml)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [Axect](https://github.com/Axect)
- **Source:** https://github.com/Axect/skills/tree/main/commit-triage

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-axect-skills-commit-triage
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Commit Triage

Use this skill at the end of a working session, or any time `git status` has become noisy, to produce **clean grouped commits** while archiving failed experiments and pausing on anything ambiguous.

This skill exists because committing after long research sessions is the single most common flashpoint for unwanted autonomous actions — stray Co-Authored-By tags, accidentally committed scratch directories, or failed experiments mixed into a feature commit. The triage step is the guardrail.

## Core rules (non-negotiable)

- **NEVER** add `Co-Authored-By: Claude` (or any co-author attribution) to commit messages, unless the user explicitly asks for it.
- **NEVER** use `git add .` or `git add -A`. Always stage named paths so nothing sneaks in.
- **NEVER** `git push` unless the user explicitly asked. Produce the commit, then stop.
- **NEVER** delete files. Move failed experiments into `failure/` with `git mv` so they remain recoverable from git history.
- Pause and ask on anything that looks destructive, ambiguous, or unfamiliar (new top-level directories, renames, submodule changes, lock-file bumps, large generated artifacts).

## Inputs to confirm

Ask only for what is missing:
- target repository (default: current working directory)
- whether the user wants a single commit or multiple logical commits
- any directories or patterns the user wants to always treat as failure or always skip (e.g. `write/`, `scratch/`, `_gen/`)

If the user just says "commit" without context, run the full triage workflow below. Do not shortcut to `git commit -am`.

## Workflow

### 1. Observe — collect the full state first

Run these in parallel, read-only:

```bash
git status                         # no -uall flag; large repos choke
git diff --stat                    # size of each modified path
git diff --stat --cached           # anything already staged
git log --oneline -5               # recent commit style
```

Do not stage or modify anything yet.

### 2. Classify — put every path into exactly one bucket

For each changed path, assign one of three buckets using `references/classification.md`:

- **COMMIT** — research-relevant, code, docs, or artifacts the user clearly wants preserved in history
- **FAILURE** — runs, logs, or outputs from experiments that did not work out and belong in `failure/`
- **ASK** — anything where the classification is not obvious (new top-level dirs, `write/`, `scratch/`, large artifacts, files the user did not mention)

Default stance when in doubt: **ASK**. It is cheap to confirm and expensive to commit noise or delete work.

### 3. Present — show the categorization before touching anything

Produce a compact table grouped by bucket, with a one-line reason per path. Example:

```text
COMMIT
  src/model.py                     new activation-scale variant (matches current task)
  tests/test_model.py              new tests for above
  report.md                        updated results section

FAILURE
  outputs/run_2026-04-15_psi/      crashed at epoch 12 (OOM), no useful metrics

ASK
  write/                           new top-level dir, unclear if intended
  data/normalization_v3.bin        large binary, regenerated? to track or ignore?
```

Then wait for confirmation. If the user corrects a row, re-draft and show again. Do not move to step 4 until the user approves.

### 4. Archive failures — move, do not delete

Create a dated slug under `failure/` and move FAILURE paths with `git mv`. See `references/failure-layout.md` for the directory convention and the short diagnosis note that should accompany each archive.

```bash
mkdir -p failure/2026-04-18-oom-psi-run
git mv outputs/run_2026-04-15_psi failure/2026-04-18-oom-psi-run/
```

Write a short `failure//NOTES.md` summarizing *what was attempted*, *what failed*, and *what was learned* — enough so a later skim tells you whether to revisit.

### 5. Stage — named paths only, grouped logically

For COMMIT items, propose one or more logical groupings (feature changes, docs, tests, unrelated fixes). Stage with named paths:

```bash
git add src/model.py tests/test_model.py
```

If the grouping is non-obvious, ask the user to choose between a single commit and multiple commits before staging.

### 6. Commit — draft, then write

Follow the repo's existing commit style from `git log`. Draft the message yourself, show it, and only commit after it looks right. Use a HEREDOC for multi-line bodies.

```bash
git commit -m "$(cat /` convention and the `NOTES.md` template.
- Pairs naturally with `research-log` for recording the decision behind a failure, and with `research-report` when the commit closes a reportable experiment.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [Axect](https://github.com/Axect)
- **Source:** [Axect/skills](https://github.com/Axect/skills)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-axect-skills-commit-triage
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/axect
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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